Caribou scouting trip

Jeff heard of a series of back roads and trails that could get him up to a highland area, higher than the treeline, where he could hunt woodland caribou.

Despite it raining every day for weeks and weeks, we decided to head out yesterday (Saturday) while the cloud layer was still sitting really low. Jeff wanted to see the area, see if there was any caribou, so he could plan a hunt (the season is already open).

Here are some photos from our adventure!

August is really mushroom season up here. There are mushrooms, toadstools, and fungi everywhere!

I love the spotted ones! I think the Smurfs would be right at home.

They grow all through the woods, and even on the sides of the roads where tires rarely hit.

Some of them look like poop. haha!

The roads were pretty good going in. Jeff warned me of really steep switchbacks and he heard I’ll likely want to close my eyes in some spots.

Some of the road was a soft wet mud with huge puddles and water holes, but luckily most of it was gravel so it drained well, and in some places the roads was just big rocks.

The clouds hung really low so when we got to the top of one of the peaks, above the trees, we couldn’t see anything but the inside of the cloud. I didn’t take pictures there 😉

Jeff knew there was a river crossing after one of the downhill switch backs. Everyone said it wouldn’t be a problem. However it has been raining every day and it was really high and turbulent.

We got out and looked at it. Looked at the truck clearance. Looked at the river. Took a selfie. Looked at the tracks. Knew no one else had driven back here in a few days at least. Knew we don’t have a winch yet if the crossing went south. The water would definitely be hitting the bottom of the doors, especially with the swift current.

Jeff was told the road after the river crossing quickly turn to trails you’d rather just have an ATV for than a truck, so we decided not to cross the river and cut our adventure short. We probably would have been fine, but why risk it?

You have to be really self-reliant when you are adventuring in the Yukon, especially if you’re leaving the main highway system. We always carry our SPOT device, so we can send a satellite signal emergency signal if we need a rescue in an emergency, but so much else can happen. I sort of skirt an area between the paranoid and the overly prepared, or are those the same? 🙂  I wear a spare set of truck keys and a whistle around my neck. We bring bear spray. In our truck we usually carry an ax, a jack, a couple spare tires, camp stove, a couple sleeping bags, and I always bring a backpack with a couple changes of clothes, rain coat, and a couple pairs of wool socks. We got knives, lighters, water, and some food. We’re thinking of mounting a winch on the front of the truck too. Maybe we’ll never need it, but that one time we really need it, we’re going to be glad we have it.

I love the trees and forests of the Yukon.

Some of the area we drove through had been burned by forest fire in recent years.

By early afternoon the sun was starting to break through. You can see that our fireweed is just about done and fall colours are taking over the landscape.